Ostmodern brings Alchemiya to Amazon Prime

VOD specialist delivers Muslim SVOD service from early creative vision through to final implementation, supporting the platform’s launch on Amazon Channels

London(14 Feb 2017)

Amazon Prime has added international SVOD service Alchemiya to its streaming roster, with broadcast content specialist Ostmodern delivering the design and technical implementation of the service. Alchemiya was built using Ostmodern’s Skylark API and is the latest international service to be added to Amazon Channels in the US, joining more than 70 major channels including HBO, Starz, and Comedy Central.

Alchemiya is available as an ‘add-on’ to Amazon Prime’s 49.5 million US subscribers through Amazon Channels. It gives viewers access to the latest content celebrating arts, culture, history, music, fashion, food, and travel from across the Muslim world.

Alchemiya first arrived on Amazon Prime in December 2016. Ostmodern has today revealed its key involvement in developing Alchemiya from an exclusively web-based streaming service to being placed in front of Amazon’s audience.

Skylark, Ostmodern’s flagship technology, was used as the framework for Alchemiya’s back-end and CMS. It offers a flexible development environment that’s centered on creating a unique front-end user experience: 

• From a design perspective, this allowed Ostmodern to take inspiration from Islamic art to create a visually stunning interface that reflects the unique nature of the content. 
• From a curation perspective, as Ostmodern’s Skylark technology is designed around an editorial-led approach to content management, this gave Alchemiya something that was easy to manage and even easier to personalise for each individual viewer. 

“We wanted to offer the very best global Muslim content through a platform that stood out from the crowd. What we ended up with had to be easy for our editorial teams to manage, and the entire platform had to be delivered in a short space of time,” said Navid Akhtar, CEO and Founder at Alchemiya. “We were impressed with Ostmodern’s previous work and knew that the team would be able to build us a flexible product in just a couple of months.”

Like many of Ostmodern’s product designs, the platform was designed with flexibility at its core. Ostmodern devised a number of tools and methods on the back-end to help group and curate content, and to support Alchemiya’s small curation team. Early users of the service now form a committed fan base that has resulted in subscribers from over 40 countries.  

Tom Williams, Chief Executive at Ostmodern added: “Our ethos is to put the curator at the center of the VOD service we design, making it easy for them to help their viewers find content that’s important. This is especially true for products like Alchemiya, and it’s great to see Skylark making this a reality by putting their platform in front of millions of new viewers on Amazon Prime.” 

About Ostmodern 

Ostmodern is a broadcast content expert and Europe’s leading player in digital product design and video on demand delivery. Based in London, the company works with major global media, broadcast, and sports brands to define product strategies and develop innovative solutions. 

In today’s competitive landscape Ostmodern is ideally positioned to build services that deliver a tangible advantage across desktop, mobile, tablet, and TV. Ostmodern has worked with leading organisations across the world. Highlights include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Australian Football League, Arsenal FC, Virgin Media, and Microsoft. 

About Alchemiya 

Alchemiya is a Video on Demand service that showcases the world’s best films and documentaries about Muslim life. Feature films, documentaries, and TV programmes all available online through a SVoD platform and apps aimed at the 'Educated Urban Muslim' – the ABC1's of the Muslim world – who live globally across key urban centers. Content highlights the best of Islamic, people, places, past and present. Subjects include art, culture, history, spirituality, business, education, fashion, travel, food, lifestyle, design, architecture, literature, music and more.